One of the most common questions we were asked during our spring tours was, “Do you guys do water day?”<\/p>\n
Water day, for parents who may not know, is typically a day where children come to school dressed in swimsuits. The school provides splash pads, water toys, buckets, hoses, sprinklers, whatever works best for that school, and the whole morning is spent outside playing!<\/p>\n
Water day is a busy and important day. We’ll discuss below some of the benefits for students and teachers alike.<\/p>\n
Water day is an ADVENTURE. A change to the routine. A day where you come to school in different clothes, play with different toys, and ultimately have a different day.<\/p>\n
Routines are an important part of our Celebree culture. Routines are how children feel secure in a school environment. They know what to expect, and their internal clock helps them regulate. But changes to routine happen. Water day provides an incredibly fun change. They get to practice their flexibility and learn how to regulate when things look different.<\/p>\n
Water day is a social day. Everyone wears different clothes. There is nothing more fun than a room full of two-year-olds oohing and aahing over everyone’s new bathing suit. Water day involves sharing different toys, learning how to ask, “Do you want to be splashed?” and finding new ways to play together. It is also a social opportunity with their teachers, as teachers are often dressed to be splashed and facilitate learning in a less-than-dry space!<\/p>\n
Water day is also an incredible day of play-based learning. Children practice their fine motor skills as they scoop and dump water. They experience sensory and science as they observe how much water fills their cup and water displacement when they splash. We include ocean animals and fossils in our sensory bins to allow for exploration. There are sponges and buckets, allowing for pretend play as they wash cars and toys.<\/p>\n
Then there’s the all-important independence practice of changing clothes after water day. An often-overlooked learning opportunity, being able to dress yourself is an important milestone for our older students. Water day gives them a moment to practice the sequencing of getting dressed, the gross motor skills of dressing themselves, and the social skills of confidence as they pack up their wet bathing suit and put it away.<\/p>\n
Water day is an ADVENTURE.<\/p>\n
For teachers, water day is a day outside the routine, which means children may be more dysregulated than usual. Teachers take great care to discuss water day in advance, making sure children know what to expect and that they are prepared for the changes. Water day means being outside for the bulk of the morning, requiring adjustments to lesson plans and potty schedules.<\/p>\n
Water day is a social day. Friends are navigating how to share these new and very exciting toys. We are exploring boundaries, because for every friend who says, “SPRAY ME IN THE FACE!” there is another who would prefer the water never touch them. Teachers are in the midst of it, guiding children as they learn these important social skills, smoothing over those rocky moments, and helping children find their brave in new situations.<\/p>\n
Water day is an incredible day of learning. Teachers forego the usual lesson plan for “emergent” lessons, taking advantage of the opportunities right in front of them. Teachers may be introducing new vocabulary or overseeing new gross motor skills as children jump, climb, throw, and slide. While a lesson plan may help guide a teacher’s day, being able to teach on the fly is where great teachers truly shine.<\/p>\n
Water day is a long day. When excited children play their hearts out all morning in the sunshine, by the time they’re ready to change clothes and head inside, they are tired. Tired children have less patience for clothes that stick to their bodies, being cold and shivery, and being very hungry for lunch. Teachers are navigating the friends who need extra support, the friends who can “do it themselves,” and the friends who are asleep in the cozy corner.<\/p>\n
Water day is an amazing day, but it is always a DAY. For teachers and students alike, it is a day of sensory fun, a break from routine, and an opportunity to learn in new and unique ways. The day is only possible through the teachers’ hard work and their commitment to providing unique opportunities as part of our curriculum. At Celebree, we make sure to treat our teachers on water day to their favorite treats because we want them to know we value their hard work, on water day and every day.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Discover how Water Day helps preschoolers build confidence, social skills, independence, and creativity through fun, play-based learning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":23611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[403],"tags":[589,769,472,772,757,754,766,763,760,775],"class_list":["post-23599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-celebree-school","tag-child-development","tag-early-childhood-education","tag-outdoor-learning","tag-play-based-learning","tag-preschool-activities","tag-preschool-social-skills","tag-sensory-play","tag-summer-preschool-activities","tag-water-day"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.celebree.com\/franklin-cool-springs-tn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/66\/2026\/07\/iStock-904506400-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.celebree.com\/franklin-cool-springs-tn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/66\/2026\/07\/iStock-904506400-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Paige Gugliuzza","author_link":"https:\/\/www.celebree.com\/franklin-cool-springs-tn\/author\/pgugliuzza\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celebree.com\/franklin-cool-springs-tn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celebree.com\/franklin-cool-springs-tn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celebree.com\/franklin-cool-springs-tn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celebree.com\/franklin-cool-springs-tn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celebree.com\/franklin-cool-springs-tn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23599"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.celebree.com\/franklin-cool-springs-tn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23617,"href":"https:\/\/www.celebree.com\/franklin-cool-springs-tn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23599\/revisions\/23617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celebree.com\/franklin-cool-springs-tn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celebree.com\/franklin-cool-springs-tn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celebree.com\/franklin-cool-springs-tn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celebree.com\/franklin-cool-springs-tn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}